Beyond Therapy, Beyond Science: A New Model for Healing the Whole Person

by Anne Wilson Schaef

This book is presented in three I. The rise and demise of a psychotherapist, a personal story of concluding that the scientific assumptions on which it is based prevent psychotherapy from facilitating true healing and is institutionalized co-dependence; II. a discussion of the living in process model developed by Schaef to facilitate true healing at all levels of being and; III. a philosophical exploration of mechanistic and post modernist science and their relationship to the healing professions.

Genres: Psychology, Self Help

372 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Schaef's experiences and perspectives are valuable, often illuminating, her compassion and accountability are honorable, and her points are well taken and important.

However, her generalizations are overbroad, her language is imprecise and sometimes contradictory, and her highly repetitive stream of consciousness style made finally putting the book down a relief.

Her stake in the underdog seems to make her subject to credulity at times (even if psychotherapy is a fraud, it doesn't make homeopathy less one). And if psychotherapy really is a bandaid to get people a fix so they can get on with the show of a fundamentally broken society (as I tend to agree), there is no attempt here to confront the consequences of the fact that the same forces that have impoverished us spiritually and destroyed the planet have also supplied a material abundance to some that they are demonstrably loath to relinquish, claims of sobriety notwithstanding.

If we are going to imagine a cosmic transformation, we can't deny or omit the countervailing force of desperation that has driven the impulse to control. Communal healing and respect for autonomy are not compatible with a minutely specialized workforce atomized by the demands of panglobal communication and social organization. Choices between these ways of living are ultimately the result of circumstance or privilege and can't be enacted universally in a finite world.

Monastic orders of traditions that have practiced methods similar but more profound than Schaef's method-of-no-method for thousands of years recognize that they live in dependence on generosity from lay people who themselves are addicted to control and security which produces such surplus. The "wise old woman" and the shaman she idealizes are themselves economic dependents in their communities; just as she accuses the psychotherapist of being in self denial about. Why we must assume one of these is institutionalized codependence and the other is divine wholeness is an exercise left for the reader.

For all her talk of non-dualism, there is an optimism that seems to hide the unfortunate but necessary coexistence of these forces from her unconditional acceptance of "Life as Process." And there is curiously absent any reference to certain traditions which prefigure and totally transcend any of her "discoveries," which one would expect a child of the sixties and a student of spirituality to be familiar with, given how similar her philosophical outlook seems to be.

[Mary]

Important

[Katey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the candor of the author's own portrayal of her life-- I read Living in Process first, and liked it better when it came to explaining that process. While I believe there are truths about what she says about traditional psychology, I'm not sure if it goes too far. (My own experiences didn't involve such traditional, analytical approaches when I was a client or student.) When I studied psychology in school, I did lean much more towards the humanist psychologists, like Carl Rogers (who I return to now and again--he's informed my sense of adult learning, too). Carl probably would "get" much of what she's saying, and quite possibly approve! :-) I think, as always, her voice is very important--and the risks she's taken are striking. I'm glad she offers another way... and my own counselors tended to veer fairly far from traditional approaches, with perhaps some exception with the counselors who helped me face my addictions as a disease...yet, addictions is what she's talking about along with healthier living... this book was ok...her next is GREAT from my perspective! :-)

[Dwayne]

Heavy books for me. Provided a resource for exploring issues in my life and more importantly brought new focus of related resources which lead to great exploration for myself. One such resource was learning about physicist, David Bohm and the holographic paradigm which I found to be remarkable.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

author believes we are all in addictive processes, either as addict or co-dependent. Psychotherapy is also an addictive process.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Satisfied my high expectations for the content and approach Anne Wilson Schaef takes in this foundational work. Wilson Schaef's approach to healing our psychic wounds is the best I have come across.